Frequently Asked Questions:
- What does Regatta Management Solutions provide me?
- I am a race organizer, what advantages will my entrants see?
- How do our potential entrants find your registration site?
- We already have a Web Site for our race that we have spent a lot of time developing. Do we have to throw it away?
- We don't have a Web Site, does this mean we can't use your tools?
- Who is using this system?
- I can't convince my club this year to use your system, does that mean we can't be on the calendar?
- How much does it cost?
- We run a summer long series, how much would that cost?
- If you are collecting entry fees for my regatta how do we get the money?
- Not all my entrants will pay using a credit card. How does Regatta Management Solutions get its fee? Do I have to write you a check?
- What types of races do you support?
- I run a small One Design Fleet how can I get my members in your database?
- How do I get started?
- Who is Regatta Management Solutions?
- What software is required to use the system?
- If we set up an event as a charity with the entry fee being tax deductible, can you provide receipts or some other documentation?
Q1: What does Regatta Management Solutions provide me?
A: Our mission is to provide back-end tools to assist Race Organizers in putting together quality regattas for their participants.
Q2: I am a race organizer, what advantages will my entrants see?
A: The service we are providing is a one stop shopping service for racers that gives them:
- Online registration for multiple regattas.
- Optional credit card payments.
- Automatic rating validation (we currently have a database connection to PHRFNE,CRF, PHRF SOCAL)
- Pre-filled user entry forms from our database.
- Online scratch sheets updated as soon as the racer completes out the entry form.
- Online results.
- Email blasts to your competitors.
- Automatic Series scoring. If your results are in our system they will be in the Regional Season Results without any additional work.
- and much more...
Q3: How do our potential entrants find your registration site?
A: There are 3 ways that users will get to the information on our site.
- Linked directly from the Regional Sailing site Like Mass Bay Sailing www.massbaysailing.org
- Directly at our site using the calendar of races.
- Or from your own event web site. We provide links you can integrate into your event/club web site.
Q4: We already have a Web Site for our race that we have spent a lot of time developing. Do we have to throw it away?
A: Please don't, RMS does not want to replace your event website. We are focused on the back-end tools. If you have a site, we can provide you with links to add to your site that provide the registration, scratch sheets and results right on your page.
Q5: We don't have a Web Site, does this mean we can't use your tools?
A: No, we have a default simple site that can be customized with your logo, Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions.
A: We currently have organizations all across the country using our system.
In 2018, RMS partnered with the Offshore Racing Association to provide online tools for processing their ORR-Ez rating certificates. We expect that through the country wide exposure we will get with ORRez additional customer will see the advantages our system.
Q7: I can't convince my club this year to use your system, does that mean we can't be on the calendar?
A: No, as a service to all of our racers we would like the calendar of races to be as complete as possible. You can create your event in our calendar and disable the registration and/or scoring services. There is no charge for this service. Register for an Administrators account (see below) and you will be able to create your event.
A: The basic fee for the user of the registration and scoring system is $2.50 per boat entry per regatta. In addition for credit card transactions there is a fee from our credit card processor ( Stripe) of 2.9% plus .30 per transaction. In our experience the ease of registration and the improved communications with racers will result in more participation in your regatta, more than offsetting the small expense.
Q9: We run a summer long series, how much would that cost?
A: Our fee is $2.50 per boat registered per regatta. A regatta is defined as a race or series of races that have a single registration and all races take place with in a 8 week period.
Q10: If you are collecting entry fees for my regatta how do we get the money?
A: At any time. Through your Administration account you can request a disbursement from your account with us. This can either be in the form of a direct transfer to your club's bank account or by a check snail mailed to your club. As with most things these days there is a small fee for non-electronic payments.
Q11: Not all my entrants will pay using a credit card. How does Regatta Management Solutions get its fee? Do I have to write you a check?
A: No, it’s very simple. We subtract our total fees for the regatta, from the money that has been paid by credit cards. For most regattas we only need one or two racers to pay by credit card to fully cover our fees.
Q12: What types of races do you support?
A: Our system supports One Design racing including: Junior Regattas, Handicap Racing and Pursuit races.
Q13:I run a small local racing fleet how can I get my members in your database?
A: In 2013 we introduced a membership tools($2.00 per member) set allowing organizations like One Design Fleets and PHRF fleets to collect fleet dues by credit card, manage membership list, post fleet news, online fleet rosters, send emails and more....
A: Go to http://www.regattaman.com, select “Event Administrators” and request a login. Shortly thereafter you will receive an Administrators account for your club or organization. From there you will have access to create and manage all of your events.
Q15: Who is Regatta Management Solutions?
A: Dave Curry and Greg Davis, the principals, are both PHRF and One Design Sailors. Dave is a past governor of Hingham Bay PHRF and Greg is past secretary of the Hull YC. We have developed this system based on our years of experience doing these same things for the Great Chase Race at Hull Yacht Club and online scoring for the local Hingham Bay PHRF events.
Q16: What software is required to use the system?
A: The RMS system is entirely browser-based. We attempt to support all current internet browsers (ex. Firefix, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome). We do require that you have javascript enabled for some of our scoring and registration modules. Click HERE for instructions on how to enable javacript.
Q17: If we set up an event as a charity with the entry fee being tax deductible, can you provide receipts or some other documentation?
A: We do send each registrant an email receipt with details about the event including payment details.
In addition, there is also a way in the event setup for you to add information to that email: say example that your regatta is $100.00 and $75.00 is deductible you could put that in the email.
The IRS, as detailed in this Publication has some thresholds as the donation grows above $250.00 or the services received are greater than $75.00. In these cases the actual charity needs to provide the documentation. The best we could do is to provide a list of those people to the 501 c3.